I made some adjustments to Tania’s recipe, including a change in measurements and yield.

*Honey: If you have good quality honey, I recommend using honey for the syrup. But if you don’t, a simple syrup works fine. Replace ¼ cup honey with ¼ cup (or about 50g) sugar.

*Butter: Traditionally, vegetable or cow ghee is the fat of choice for Syrian sweets. Ghee is simply butter, but without the milk solids and water, so it creates a richer flavor. If you have access to ghee, I highly recommend substituting that for butter. It takes the cookies to a whole new level – just replace 175 grams butter with 175 grams ghee. If not, butter will be just fine.

*Sugar: I prefer these cookies to be less sweet, especially since there’s a syrup coating on top. The original recipe calls for 150g (or ¾ cup) sugar. The recipe works fine with 50g (or ¼ cup) more sugar, if you so desire.

*Mahlab: This is a spice made of dried cherry pits. It’s popular throughout the Mediterranean. If you don’t like it or don’t have access to it, you can simply leave it out. Mahlab is an iconic flavor in many baked goods from the region.

*Baking time may vary. My oven is tiny. Like, easy-bake oven tiny. So for a normal-sized oven, the baking time may be a little longer. Start checking at 18 minutes and keep a close eye. Since they’re thin, they’re more likely to burn.

Time: 60-90 minutes. Yield: Makes 55 cookies.